Soft-tread horseshoe



No Model.)

H., P. BOEHMER.

SOFT TREAD HORSESHOE.

No. 560,119. Patented May 12, 1896.

ANDREW B GRAHAMJHUTOUTHO WASMNGTDNJYC UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN F. BOEHMFR, on ST. LoUIs, MISSOURI.

SOFT-TREAD HORSESHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,119, dated May 12, 1896.

Application filed February 19, 1896. $erial No. 579,944. (No model.)

To a whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN F. BOEHMER, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Horseshoes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to produce a horseshoe which shall be provided with an elastic pad arranged under the frog of the horses foot, and also with a yielding treadsurface or cushion; and to this end the invention consists in a horseshoe of novel construction, combined with an elastic pad, and also combined with a yielding tread-surface or cushion. It will be observed that my invention comprises two features, one relating to the pad, which is arranged under the frog of the foot, and the other to the yielding cushion or tread-surface,whichis arranged around the toe or fore part of the shoe, and I wish it understood that .while I contemplate combining these two features in one shoe still they might be used separately, or either one might be combined with a shoe having a construction in other respects difierent from my present invention. Therefore it will be understood that my invention is not limited to a shoe having all of the features of construction illustrated in the drawings accompanying this specification and to be presently pointed out.

In the drawings, Figure l is a top plan view of a horseshoe embodying my invention, the pad being shown in place; and Fig. 2 is a similarview with the pad removed. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the shoe with the elastic hearing or cushion and the pad in place, and Fig. 4 is a similar view with the cushion and pad removed. Fig. 5 is a cross-section on the lines 5 5 of Figs. 1 and Fig. 6 is a crosssection on the lines 6 6 of Figs. 3 and a.

The shoe may be of any usual or approved contour. On its under side it is provided with a channel or groove 2, arranged close to the inner edge thereof and beginning upon opposite sides of the shoe, preferably a little back of the center, and extending around the front or toe thereof. The opposite walls of this channel are provided with ribs 3, which are thicker at their inner than their outer ends and preferably arranged so as not to be opposite to each other. Into this channel or groove there is packed a yielding material at, such as rope, which gives to the shoe a yielding or soft tread-surface. The projecting ribs 3 operate to confine the material at in place. Upon either side of the shoe and between the groove 2 and the outer edge there are two channels or grooves 5, which are to receive the heads of the nails by which the shoe is secured to the hoof, the nails passing through holes 6 formed in the shoe at the bottom of the grooves 5. These nail-grooves are separated at the toe of the shoe by a solid part 7 of the shoe, to which a calk may be secured whenever required. The upper surface of the shoe opposite the grooves 2 and 5 is plain, but in rear of these grooves each end of the shoe is rabbeted upon its upper edge and inner side, as represented at 8. Each rabbet is so cut as to leave a shelf 9 at the bottom, with the main body of the shoe surrounding the rabbet and shelf at the front and rear and outer side.

10 represents the pad, which may be of any suitable material, felt being What I prefer to use, and of any preferred shape. It extends from side to side of the shoe, its opposite ends fitting into the rabbets 8, where it is supported from fallingv outward by the shelves 9 and from moving out of position by the parts 11 and 12 of the body of the shoe. I prefer that the pad should be of a thickness sufficient to bring its lower surface, between the ends of the shoe, flush with the adjacent lower faces of the shoe. The opposite surface of the pad is preferably raised somewhat above the upper face of the shoe. the upper surface of the pad extends nearly to the heel of the hoof, which is often desirable. By properly cutting the pad it may be made to extend to a greater or less extent, as may be desired, over the rear part of the shoe, the shape of the upper exposed part of the pad not being dependent upon the shape of the rabbets 8.

The lower faces of the rear ends of the shoe are plain and flush with the lower edges of the walls of the shoe on either side of the channel 2, and the parts 12 of the shoe in rear of the rabbets 8 being solid make it possible to apply heel-calks whenever they are found to be necessary.

From a comparison of Figs. 2 and 4 it will It will be observed that.

be seen that the groove 2 in the lower face of the shoe and the rabbets 8 in the upper face thereof do not come opposite to each other. This arrangement permits the construction of a shoe which is light in weight and yet is provided with a yielding pad between the shoe and the ground at the toe of the shoe and a yielding pad between the heel of the hoof and both the ground and the shoe.

The rear ends of the shoe are unconnected except through the forward curved part of the shoe, so that the pad 10 is free to bear directly upon the ground, and this construction enables the shoe to be'made at less expense of labor and skill than is required in those'forms wherein a cross-piece between the heel-parts is used as a support for the pad and at thesame time permits the shoe to be easily spread or compressed in order to'fit the hoof to which it is to be applied.

It will be seen that ashoe such as I have described is light and yielding or elastic. The fore part or toeof the hoof is supportedupon the cushion formed of the material placed within the groove 2, while the rear part of the hoof,,as well as the frog, is supported by the elastic pad 10. The pad is easily put in place, and when once-the shoe is secured to thehoof there is practically no possibility of the pad getting out of place or becoming lost.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. A horseshoe provided in its lower face with a groove or channel adapted to receive a packing of elastic or yielding material, such groove extending around t'he'toe'part of the shoe and backwardalittle'beyond the center of theshoe, the lower faces of theshoe in rear of said groove being plain and flush with the side'of the said groove, substantially as set forth.

2. A horseshoe provided in its lower face with a groove or channel adapted to receive a packing of elastic or yielding material, the walls of such groove being provided with ribs thicker at their inner than at their outer ends, substantially as set forth.

3. A horseshoe having its ends or heel parts unconnected by a cross-piece and rabbeted upon their upper surfaces, in combination with a yielding or elastic pad having its opposite sides supported in the rabbeted portions of the shoe whereby the pad is supported by the shoe directly between it and the hoof,

substantially as set forth.

at. A horseshoe having its ends or heel parts unconnected by a cross-piece, and rabbeted upon their upper inner sides to form the shelves 9, which are'surrounded by the solid parts of the shoe upon their front, rear, and outersides, in combination with an elastic or yielding pad 10, which is supported in the said rabbeted parts of the shoe and extends across from one end part to the other, substantially as set forth. 7

5. The combination with a horseshoe, of a heel and frog pad supported'in rabbets formed in the upper surface of the shoe, and extending above the upper face thereof, and downward to orbelow the lower face of the shoe between the ends thereof, whereby it is adapted to be'interposed between the heel of the hoof and the shoeand directly between the frog of the animal and the ground, substantially as set fort-h.

6. A horseshoe having a groove 2 formed in its lower face, the said groove extendin around the front ortoe part of the shoe, but not into the heel or rear parts thereof, and having also the rabbets 8 formed in the upper faces of theheel or rear parts of the shoe, the groove 2 and the rabbetsS being not opposite ,to each other, substantially'as set forth; loweredges of the walls of the shoe on either. 1

HERMAN F. BOEHM-ER.

\Vitnessesz' JAMES J. PARKS, L. S. RICHARDSON. 

